Green Team wires California Sprint

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Green Team ($6.80) jumped to a quick lead down the backstretch and was never severely challenged as he scored a gate-to-wire victory in the $100,000 at Bay Meadows on Saturday.

Green Team broke alertly and ended up on the lead in the surprisingly paceless six-furlong race for California-breds. He controlled things up front and had enough left in the lane to defeat 3-year-old Areyoutalkintome by a neck in 1:07.41.

Riding Green Team, Russell Baze sat chilly until inside the sixteenth pole, when he went to the whip to hold Areyoutalkintome safe.

"I told Russell to ride the way the race came up," winning trainer Jeff Bonde said. "It didn't bother me to see him on the lead when I saw the fractions of the race."

Bonde said the Cal Cup Sprint would be next for the 5-year-old Green Team.